


Close your eyes and kiss me

by Gilrael



Series: EnnoTana [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Coming Out, Friends to Lovers, Kinoshita and Narita are great friends, M/M, Team Captain Ennoshita Chikara, Training Camp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 04:44:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6409315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gilrael/pseuds/Gilrael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Put on your freaking shirt, you idiot!” Chikara growled, shoving the piece of cloth back at him with a little too much force.<br/>“Admit it, Chikara,” Tanaka shot back cockily, “you like seeing me shirtless.”</p><p>---</p><p>Ennoshita has a crush on Tanaka and is trying to figure out how to deal with it, while also trying to be a good senpai and captain for the rest of the team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Woes of a captain

**Author's Note:**

> I have so many FEELINGS about Ennoshita. So many. And EnnoTana is such a cute ship, so I had to write a fic, although I'm not even close to being finished with White ink on black paper...  
> KageHina is only a side relationship btw, they mostly serve as a catalyst for the EnnoTana xD

Being the captain of a high school volleyball team was stressful and having a boisterous bald guy for a vice-captain did not help Chikara in the least. Tanaka revelled in the attention he got from the new first years, who were all rather impressionable and stared wide-eyed whenever the ace pulled off a great spike. That admiration would always go straight to Tanaka's head in a way that was everything but helpful; especially when it came to reducing stress for Chikara.

“Tanaka-senpai!” Hinata yelled excitedly, earning an annoyed look from Kageyama who was clearly not happy about Tanaka stealing his best friend's attention. And then, of course, Tanaka had to take off his shirt and whip it away in a spectacular fashion, so that it landed right on Chikara's head.

“Who is the ace? I am the ace!”

“Put on your freaking shirt, you idiot!” Chikara growled, shoving the piece of cloth back at him with a little too much force.

“Admit it, Chikara,” Tanaka shot back cockily, “you like seeing me shirtless.”

That joke hit closer to home than Chikara wanted to admit, so he hid it by rolling his eyes and calling the rest of the team to order. “We're done for now. The gym will be used for PE lessons, so we need to clean up. Make sure not to be late for class!”

While everyone else was busy with clean-up, Yachi approached Chikara about the posters she was preparing for the next donation drive. Their relative success at the Spring High had secured them quite a bit of funding from the school, but they still needed more money if they wanted to attend training camp in Tokyo during Golden Week.

“I was thinking about doing one with a group photo, but I'm not really sure how to go about that,” she said, pointing at one of the sketches she brought with her. “A simple shot with everyone neatly lined up would be too boring, but if everyone's acting a little goofy people probably won't be taking us seriously...”

Chikara did his best to listen, but his thoughts started drifting off anyway.

“ _You like seeing me shirtless.”_

This was ridiculous. He'd known Tanaka for a little more than two years now and during that time he'd seen him run around half-naked a lot. He'd actually seen him naked in the baths at training camps all the time. Really, Tanaka took every opportunity to wear as little clothing as possible. By now, Chikara should've been used to it, but he clearly wasn't. In fact, it had gradually become harder to deal with Tanaka over the years.

In their first year, Coach Ukai Senior had run such a tight ship that Tanaka barely was able to do anything during practice that would've been distracting to Chikara. After practice, though, Tanaka had often lain on the clubroom floor, totally exhausted and wearing only his volleyball shorts. In his own exhaustion Chikara had stared blankly at his team mate in these moments, but his tired brain had barely been able to register anything.

When he'd returned to the club after weeks of absence, training was still hard, but with Ukai Senior gone, there'd suddenly been enough time to realise that Tanaka was actually quite good-looking.

It had been in their second year that Chikara also started noticing other guys and actually understood that he was probably gay. With that, making Tanaka put on his shirt suddenly became an act of self-preservation. Otherwise he would've stared and that would've probably made people suspicious.

Being his best friends, Narita and Kinoshita had noticed it anyway and confronted him about it after their first practice match against Nekoma. They didn't make a big deal out of it, but they'd wanted to make sure that he knew that they were on his side and that they would fight anyone who dared attack him for being gay.

“... so what do you think, Ennoshita-san? Should I go with the first or the second option?”

Blinking, Chikara returned to reality. Yachi was looking at him expectantly and he didn't have the heart to tell her that he'd just spaced out for a couple of minutes. “Um...” She was still holding up the notepad with her sketches. Both of them looked good to him, but the left one seemed a little less crowded. Filming short videos in his spare time had given him an eye for composition. “I like the left one. The other one's too busy.”

“Thank you, Ennoshita-san!” Yachi said, bowing. “I'll talk to you about organising the photo shoot later!”

 

“It's ridiculous,” Chikara complained to Narita and Kinoshita during lunch. They were sitting in a secluded corner of the school grounds where no-one else usually went. “Why does it have to be Tanaka of all people?”

“Because you have questionable taste,” Kinoshita replied, grinning cheekily.

Chikara threw him a look of indignation, but otherwise ignored his friend's teasing.

“He is the straightest guy on the whole goddamn team!” he went on, waving his chopsticks through the air. “It's absolutely pointless for me to have a crush on him, but I do!”

“Him liking girls doesn't necessarily mean that he's straight,” Narita reminded him, shrugging and taking a bite out of his bread. “Just come out to the team. I really don't think anyone will care and there are a couple of people who are clearly gay or at least bi and they'd probably think that it's really cool that our captain is brave enough to come out.”

“Like who?” Chikara asked sceptically.

“Kageyama totally has a thing for Hinata,” Kinoshita replied instantly. “I'm not sure about Hinata, but I have a feeling that he might just like him back.”

Chikara tried to picture Kageyama and Hinata being together. It made a very strange kind of sense, although the two of them were constantly at each other's throats. They'd gone from sworn enemies to partners in a matter of weeks and despite all the bickering, they seemed to get along astonishingly well.

But still... Chikara wasn't ready to come out yet. He would be surprised if the team reacted badly, because they were all either amazing friends or so focused on the sport that they did not care about anything outside of it. He was a little afraid, however, that word would get around the school and other teams. He wasn't sure how he'd deal with the homophobic comments that would be directed at him and the entirety of the Karasuno volleyball club.

“I'm not quite ready yet,” he muttered and stabbed an egg roll with his chopsticks.

Kinoshita sighed and exchanged meaningful looks with Narita, before changing the topic. “You do remember that we're studying with Tanaka and Nishinoya tonight?”

 

Tutoring Noya and Tanaka was not something that Chikara particularly enjoyed, but if he wanted them to come to Tokyo with the rest of the team, there would be no going around it. Last year he never minded at all because back then, his feelings weren't as strong as they were now. But Tanaka and Noya were his friends and team mates and he wanted them to succeed, so he found himself walking to Noya's with the rest of the third years after school. His sense of duty always won out in the end.

They spread their homework out across the kitchen table and while Narita and Kinoshita mostly worked in silence, Tanaka and Noya were constantly making little noises of frustration. Tanaka was frowning at his homework like it had personally offended him. Chikara was unable to look away.

Tanaka had a rather expressive face; it was one of the many things Chikara liked about him. It was like a window into his mind. You never had to guess at his emotions, since they were so obvious.

“Chikaraaaa...” Tanaka whined and pushed his Math textbook towards him. “I don't get this at all.”

Sighing, Chikara leaned over to take a closer look at the exercise Tanaka was pointing out to him. He barely paid it any mind that their shoulders were touching, while he tried to explain how to solve that kind of problem. Tanaka's proximity had always been very comfortable. That was another thing Chikara liked. He sometimes wished that they could become even closer than this, though he usually only allowed these thoughts into his mind when he was alone.

“So I only need to use this formula here...” Tanaka muttered, reaching for a pen to write down his newfound wisdom and accidentally brushing Chikara's fingers in the process.

Luckily, Chikara had a pretty good poker face. You needed to pay very close attention if you wanted to know what was going on inside of him most of the time. Tanaka was too preoccupied with his homework, but Narita wasn't. He gave Chikara a knowing look, before returning his focus to his English textbook.

For the rest of the evening Chikara desperately tried not to think about how nice it would be to hold Tanaka's hand.

He failed spectacularly.

 

***

 

Organising the trip to Tokyo went off without any major incidents. Yachi's posters had been a success in bringing in donations. They now had enough money to rent a bus and pay for lodging and food. Nobody was injured, sick or had to study for make-up exams. Chikara felt like he was pushing his luck, since this was his first training camp as captain and something was bound to go incredibly wrong sooner or later.

The bus ride was also uneventful, since almost everyone was asleep while Coach Ukai and Takeda-sensei were alternating in the driver's seat. They arrived early in the morning and were greeted by the new captains of the Tokyo teams. It was weird not to hear Bokuto-san's excited yelling or see Kuroo-san's shit-eating grin, but Chikara had the feeling that it would be a lot easier to deal with Akaashi-san and Kenma-san instead.

All in all, the new line-ups of Shinzen, Ubugawa, Fukurōdani and Nekoma seemed promising. They had lots of new players that still needed some polishing, but the same went for Karasuno.

Their new setter Riku was nowhere near Kageyama's skill level yet, especially when it came to accuracy, but he had a knack for reading the game and forming strategies, and Mori would be able to become a solid libero, once he got his nerves under control. Other than that they had three new wing spikers and a middle blocker who were all fairly talented.

Compared to the last training camp in Tokyo Karasuno had a lot less trouble keeping up with everyone. Fukurōdani managed to have most of the wins by the time the first day ended, but nobody ever won by a huge margin.

 _Probably because we're all still trying to find a place for our first years_ , Chikara mused as he made his way to the bath with the other third years.

“We need to bring Taketora down a notch next time we play Nekoma!” Tanaka exclaimed, still completely fired up, despite having played non-stop for hours before dinner.

“His straight got more powerful compared to last time,” Noya grumbled.

Of course, Tanaka was the first one to undress once they reached the bath. Chikara simply turned his back to him, so he wouldn't be tempted to stare. Usually, he would avoid bathing with Tanaka, but with a bath this big he didn't really have an excuse.

 _This is completely normal_ , he told himself as he quickly rubbed shampoo into his hair. _There is nothing sexual about this situation, so just deal with it like an adult._

Tanaka and Narita were already sitting in the tub when Chikara washed the last soapy suds down the drain. For a second he contemplated joining them, but ultimately he decided against it and reached for his towel instead.

“You're not getting in?” Tanaka asked incredulously.

“Nah, I'm too tired,” Chikara replied, running the towel through his hair.

“But this is nice and relaxing!” Noya said as he lowered himself into the hot water.

“Really guys, I'm sleepy,” Chikara argued, but it was already too late.

Tanaka got out of the tub and reached for Chikara's arm. The captain tried to sidestep to avoid him, but slipped on the wet tiles. In a film this would've been the time for a slow-motion shot. Tanaka's fingers closed around Chikara's wrist and tugged him forward right into Tanaka's chest. Breath stuck in his throat, Chikara looked up and found himself mere centimetres away from Tanaka's face. Damn, those lips looked inviting. Chikara would only have to move his head a little and then they'd be kissing. He closed his eyes...

And then all of a sudden the moment was over, shattered by the sound of Noya's laughter echoing across the tiled walls.

“Oh my god, Chikara! You look like a damsel in distress!”

Chikara's face felt too hot as he extracted himself from Tanaka's arms. “I told you I'm tired. I can't even walk anymore,” he muttered, pulled on his clothes and quickly left the bathroom.

Groaning, he made his way to the room where the first and second years had already laid out the futons.

_Why does this have to happen to me?_

“We put your bags over there, Ennoshita-senpai,” Riku said, pointing at a futon in the far corner of the room.

“Thanks,” Chikara mumbled and immediately flopped down on the mattress, burying his face in the pillow.

He didn't want to think about what just happened, but he did anyway. He'd almost kissed Tanaka while they were both naked and his skin was burning in the places they had touched. This camp would be absolute torture, not because of all the physical exercise he'd have to endure, but because there would be no way to avoid his vice-captain.

Suddenly, he heard someone rustle around in a bag next to his head. Slowly, Chikara lifted his head to check who it was.

“You alright?” Kinoshita asked, looking a little concerned.

Chikara simply gave a non-committal shrug and turned on his back. “It's gonna be a long week.”

 


	2. A long week

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which KageHina happens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little dialogue heavy, but I hope you'll enjoy this chapter :)

Fortunately, the next day Tanaka acted like nothing had happened. To him that moment in the bath probably held no significance, but Chikara relived it in his mind every time he had a minute to himself. He was mortified that something as stupid as that actually happened to him, so he decided that he needed distraction.

Distraction, however, was not easy to come by when you spend ninety percent of your day with the person you want to distract yourself from. As captain and vice-captain they had strategies to discuss and things to take care of – together. Tanaka was doing a good job shouldering some of the responsibility and Chikara appreciated that, but it also annoyed him, because it only resulted in him falling deeper and deeper for this lovable idiot.

If it hadn't been for Riku-kun, Chikara would've probably done something reckless like confessing his love to Tanaka by the end of their third day in Tokyo.

The first year approached him after they were done with the practice matches of the second day. “Ennoshita-senpai?” Riku-kun said timidly, squeezing a ball between his palms. “Akaashi-san promised to help me with my tosses, but we need some people to help out and...”

“Sure! I'll help out,” Chikara replied before Riku had even finished his sentence, jumping on the opportunity to get away from Tanaka until dinner was ready.

Instantly, a bright smile appeared on the younger boys face. “Thank you very much!”

“If you want, I'll ask Kageyama to help out as well,” Chikara offered. Riku-kun's smile vanished as fast as it came.

“Erm... I... I don't want to annoy him,” he mumbled, gaze fixed on his volleyball. Sighing, Chikara put a hand on his shoulder. Most of the first years were still a little afraid of Kageyama and that needed to stop. Soon. Otherwise they'd never be able to play a proper game with their starting setter.

“Kageyama is only half as scary as you think he is,” he said calmly. “His talent is... intimidating, even for me, but he's a nice guy actually. Most of the time.”

Riku-kun didn't look too convinced, but agreed anyway. In the end, Akaashi-san, Riku-kun, Kageyama and Chikara gathered in one of the smaller gyms. The system was relatively simple. Akaashi-san stood on the other side of the net, throwing them the ball. Then either Kageyama or Chikara would receive and send the ball to Riku-kun who would then set up a toss for Chikara. Then everyone would give him some input on his performance.

Kageyama had trouble expressing himself at first, but by the time Takeda-sensei interrupted them to tell them that they'd be late for dinner he and Riku-kun had become used to each other.

“We should repeat that tomorrow evening, Riku-kun,” Akaashi-san suggested as they made their way to the dining hall, “to see if you remembered everything.”

The first year, clearly a little overwhelmed with all the attention he got from his senpai, only managed to nod.

Chikara couldn't suppress the little smile that crept up on his face.

 

Dinner was dominated by Tanaka, Noya and Taketora messing around with Hinata yelling encouragement at them. Everyone else was either sighing exasperatedly or smiling into their bowls of rice. Well, with the exception of Kageyama. Chikara immediately noticed once again that he was alternating between staring daggers at Hinata and throwing jealous looks at Tanaka and Noya who held Hinata's undivided attention.

“What did we tell you?” Kinoshita whispered into Chikara's ear. “He's gay for our little decoy.”

“Please stop it,” Chikara grumbled. Just because Kageyama wanted to have Hinata's attention didn't mean that he had a crush on him. He didn't have that many friends after all. Maybe he was just jealous of the others for stealing his best friend away.

“Chikaraaaa!!! Hisashiii!!!” Tanaka yelled, suddenly appearing behind Kinoshita and Chikara and throwing his arms around their shoulders. “What are you guys whispering about? I want to be in on the secret!”

Chikara was momentarily stunned at the sudden proximity of his crush, but luckily Kinoshita reacted fast.

“We were talking about how embarrassing it is to have a guy like you on our team,” he teased, grinning from ear to ear.

“You break my heart!” Tanaka replied, affecting a hurt facial expression, and then immediately changed gears again. “You up for some Truth or Dare with the Nekoma third years after dinner?”

“I'm out,” Chikara said without hesitation. Playing Truth or Dare with Tanaka would be an open invitation for disaster. He knew better than to expose himself to that kind of humiliation. “I still need to talk to Ukai-san about a better training regimen for Riku-kun.”

“Aww...” Tanaka looked genuinely disappointed.

“Well, Narita and I will make sure that you'll be plenty embarrassed,” Kinoshita offered.

 

“If you could aim a little further away from the net that would be great.”

It was the third evening in a row that Chikara spent practising with Riku-kun and Akaashi-san. This extra practice was extremely exhausting, but it definitely kept Chikara's thoughts away from a certain wing spiker and that was exactly what he wanted.

“Here comes the next one!” Akaashi-san yelled, serving the ball. It went straight for Kageyama who managed to receive it without much effort.

“Riku!” he said, sending the ball towards him in a nice parabola. The first year raised his hands over his head to set up the ball for Chikara. Chikara ran forward, jumped and slammed down the ball on the other side of the net.

“That was a nice one!” he praised, patting Riku on the back.

“Your fingers were a little too far apart, try to keep them closer together,” Kageyama said. Riku nodded enthusiastically. Chikara's plan of having the two of them warm up to each other through practice seemed to work.

They continued with their routine until Hinata, Mori and Tanaka entered the gym.

“Hey, you guys up for a match?” Tanaka asked, rubbing his palms together in anticipation. “We've been practising our serves with the Ubugawa guys and want to test them out.”

“We could play three on three,” Hinata suggested.

“I'll sit this one out and keep score,” Akaashi-san offered immediately. “We've got too many setters anyway.”

“Alright!”

Chikara had to concentrate on not sighing in exasperation. His evasion tactics were bound to fail at some point anyway.

“Tanaka, you play with me and Riku,” he said, effortlessly switching into captain mode.

“Yes, sir!” Tanaka said, while Kageyama went over to Hinata and Mori.

And here was another entry on the list of things Chikara liked about Tanaka: playing volleyball with him was a blast. Chikara was nowhere near as talented as him, but the enthusiastic praise he received from him every time he scored warmed him to his core. And they worked well together. Tanaka was full of energy, a storm that raged across the court, while Chikara was the exact opposite.

And that was mostly the reason why Chikara didn't plan on confessing his feelings. If he did, he might ruin everything.

They were leading by two points when it was Hinata's turn to serve.

“Watch this!” the small middle blocker said, throwing the ball up in the air.

 _Holy shit he's doing a jump serve_ , Chikara realised and immediately widened his stance so he had better footing for the receive. But when the ball came flying towards him, he didn't manage to hit it properly and instead of sending it towards Riku it flew to the side.

“Damn,” he muttered, as he watched the ball smack against the wall.

Chikara was about to congratulate Hinata on his first service ace with a jump serve, but the words died on his tongue when he saw the unreadable expression on Kageyama's face. And then the setter was running towards Hinata.

“Oi! Kageyama, he–” Tanaka started, but Kageyama had already grabbed Hinata by his shirt.

It took Chikara a couple of seconds to register what happened next. He'd expected pretty much everything from angry shouting over Kageyama throwing Hinata around to Kageyma headbutting Hinata for recklessly trying a jump serve – something he'd refused to teach him for ages.

Instead he kissed him.

 _So he does have a crush on Hinata_ , Chikara thought as his brain caught up with what was happening before his eyes. Of course Chikara wasn't the only guy with homosexual tendencies at Karasuno. Statistically speaking it would've been naïve to believe otherwise. Seeing it like this still came as a surprise to him, despite what Kinoshita and Narita had been telling him.

He didn't have much time to process this new information, however, because suddenly Kageyama dropped Hinata on the floor and ran out of the gym with regret written all over his face.

“Kageyama!” Chikara shouted, but the second year didn't stop. He turned around to look at Hinata, but Tanaka and Akaashi-san were already at his side.

“Shit.” Without thinking Chikara started running after the setter. He'd almost found himself in this kind of situation a couple of days ago and he wouldn't let Kageyama self-destruct over something like this.

Kageyama turned a corner and Chikara sped up, skidding on the concrete and realising that he was still wearing in-door shoes. He couldn't have cared less, though.

Cursing, he grabbed his team mates arm and pulled him to an abrupt stop. That was when he realised that Kageyama was crying. Chikara had only seen him cry twice: after the Seijō match at the last Inter High and the second time when they'd lost at Nationals.

“Leave me alone!” Kageyama choked out.

“No, we need to talk,” Chikara replied calmly. He wished that Narita and Kinoshita were here right now. Despite being straight, they had a knack for talking about these kinds of things. He couldn't count the times they'd given him good advice.

“You don't even get it!” Kageyama sobbed, but made no move to run away again.

“Believe me, I get it. This is not going to be the end of the world. No-one is going to look down on you because you're gay or something. And if anyone does, I'll rip them a new one.”

“That's easy for you to say,” Kageyama growled, shaking off Chikara's hand. “You don't have a crush on your best friend and you haven't kissed him, because you are not going _insane_!”

Chikara barely managed to shut down the urge to laugh.

“Actually, I do have a crush on a friend of mine and almost kissed him on Monday night.”

“You... What?!” Kageyama looked at Chikara with utter disbelief in his eyes.

“I'm gay and I have a crush on Tanaka,” Chikara admitted, smiling bitterly. “I know exactly what you're thinking and I'm aware that you probably won't believe me when I say this, but you do not need to be scared, alright?”

“But... Nothing's alright!” Kageyama rubbed at his eyes and sat down in the grass next to the gym wall. “I'm in love with my best friend who is _straight_! And I _kissed_ him!”

“Just because he likes girls doesn't mean he doesn't like boys.”

 _Narita would be so proud of me right now_ , Chikara thought dryly.

“But that doesn't mean he likes _me_!”

Seeing Kageyama like this was heart-breaking. Chikara would've never thought that he'd ever see himself in his ambitious team mate, but there was no doubting it – their situations were so similar that it bordered on being ridiculous, but at the same time it was everything but funny. These emotions were too real and too painful to be laughed at.

“What if he thinks I'm disgusting?” Kageyama asked, cradling his face in his palm. “I don't even know what came over me! I was so focused on the game and then he does a perfect jump serve and I... I just... I snapped!”

Chikara had never heard Kageyama talk this much about anything other than volleyball.

“He pisses me off, but he also makes me so goddamn happy and I don't know how to deal with this! This was never supposed to happen...” Kageyama rambled on. His eyes were focused on the ground in front of him, so he didn't see what Chikara was seeing.

“Kageyama,” he tried to interrupt, but the setter kept talking aimlessly.

“What if he doesn't trust me anymore?”

“Kageyama.”

“What if he stops jumping when I toss to him?”

“ _Kageyama_ , he's–”

“Do you actually think I would stop trusting you, just because you have a crush on me?” Hinata, who had been approaching them, asked. He seemed to be extremely pissed off. Kageyama's head snapped up so fast that he almost gave himself whip-lash.

“Hinata...”

“You freaking idiot! You could've waited for just one goddamn second and then I could've fucking told you that I like you too! But no! You just run off like a dumbass!”

“Uh... I'll leave you guys alone now,” Chikara muttered and went back into the gym where Tanaka, Akaashi, Mori and Riku were looking at him expectantly.

“I think they'll be fine,” he said, rubbing his forehead tiredly. “I'd really appreciate it if you guys kept quite about this. They should decide for themselves whether they want to come out or not.”

Everyone nodded and then they simply stood in silence, trying to process what they had witnessed.

“I can't believe that they actually like each other,” Tanaka said, shaking his head, but there was a smile on his face. “Who would've thought that we have gay team mates?”

 _They are not the only ones_ , Chikara thought and rubbed his face. This training camp was turning out to be more emotionally taxing than anything else, all due to the fact that he was still stuck in the closet.

 _If they decide to come out to the entire team, I'll do it with them_.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the kudos and the kind feedback! You guys are the best :D


	3. Coming out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last proper chapter! There will be a small epilogue, though I don't know when I'll be able to post that because I need to study for an exam^^

“Ennoshita-san?” Kageyama said, quietly appearing next to Chikara at dinner. “Could we talk?”

Chikara knew that a conversation with Hinata and Kageyama was inevitable, but he would've thought that they'd want to wait until after dinner was over. He'd seen them compete over who could eat the most bowls of rice at the last training camp. It wasn't pretty.

“Of course,” he replied, putting down his chopsticks and following Kageyama and Hinata outside. Narita threw him a questioning look, but Chikara shook his head at him. He wasn't going to out them, even if Narita had guessed correctly when he said they had a thing for each other.

“So... what's this about?” Chikara asked when they had found an empty hallway, although he had a pretty good idea what his team mates wanted to talk about.

“Um... We wanted to ask you for some advice,” Hinata said, twisting his fingers into the hem of his shirt.

“You said... you said you were...” Kageyama clearly had trouble with wording his question and since Chikara already knew what this was about, he decided to help him out.

“I'm gay, yes,” he offered.

“Right, um... Do you think we should tell the team?” Hinata asked nervously glancing around to spot potential eavesdroppers. “I mean... that Kageyama and I are... um... together.”

“That depends entirely on you guys,” Chikara said. “If you don't think you'll be able to take the stupid jokes everyone is going to make, you should keep it a secret. But if you think you can handle that... Why the hell not? Tanaka, Mori and Riku are okay with it from what I've gathered. Kinoshita and Narita know that I'm gay and they are really supportive of me, so I don't know why it should be different with you. That's already a huge part of the team.” He took a deep breath. “And you know what? If you two come out, I'll do it as well.”

“You would do that?” Kageyama asked, wide-eyed.

“It would divert the attention away from you, at least a little.”

“Ennoshita-senpai!” Hinata exclaimed, the brightest smile adorning his face. “You're the best!”

Chikara could feel his face heating up and sighed. There was no going back now. “Just give me a little time to prepare myself for this.”

 

Sleep evaded Chikara until the early hours of the morning, because he was turning over strategies in his brains. When he woke up at 6 a.m., he felt like a zombie, but he was a zombie with a plan.

During breakfast Kinoshita and Narita kept asking him what was wrong, but Chikara deflected their questions. They'd find out soon enough and if he talked about it now he might lose confidence. And confidence was definitely not something he had to spare.

He finished his breakfast as quickly as he could and then went to look for Ukai-san and Takeda-sensei. They were the first people that needed to know about his plan, because as coach and club advisor they would have to deal with a lot of shit if any of this ever reached the ears of the school administration. He needed to give them a fair warning.

He spotted Coach Ukai having a smoke outside of the gym.

“Ukai-san, do you know where Sensei is? I need to talk to both of you. Preferably at the same time,” Chikara said, trying to keep the nerves out of his voice.

“He just went to get us some coffee,” Ukai-san replied, worry lining his face. “Did something happen?”

“Uh... Kinda?” Chikara said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. “But I'd rather not repeat myself, so if we could wait for Takeda-sensei...”

Ukai nodded and extinguished his cigarette butt in the ash tray. While they waited for Takeda-sensei to return Ukai-san lit another cigarette and Chikara tried to gather all his courage.

He could do this. Being gay was not something to be ashamed of. As conservative a country as Japan was, the gay community had been able to gain some acceptance over the past couple years. Everything would be fine. His teacher and coach would not condemn him and his team mates for being different.

“You look a little pale, Ennoshita-kun,” Takeda said as he stepped outside, carrying two mugs of steaming coffee. “I hope you're not sick?”

Ukai-san took one of the cups and warmed his hands on it. “He said he wanted to talk to us.”

“Oh? Then go ahead, Ennoshita-kun.” Takeda-sensei smiled warmly.

Chikara closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Hinata and Kageyama are in a relationship and they want to tell the team, and I told them that I would come out with them. We are not going to change our minds about this, but I thought that I should at least tell you first. I apologise for all the difficulties we might be causing you in the future because of this.” He bowed his head and waited for a reaction.

Ukai was the first to find his voice. “Let me get this straight... Ugh, that was an unfortunate choice of words, uh... So... You are gay? And Hinata and Kageyama are too?”

Chikara straightened his back and nodded. “Well, I think Hinata is actually bisexual, but... yes.”

“Damn, you guys are a lot braver than I was at your age,” Ukai-san said, chuckling. “I would've never come out to my high school team.”

For a second Chikara was confused, but then something clicked in his mind. He stared at his coach with wide eyes. “You are...”

“Bi, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone,” Ukai said, shrugging. “Sensei knows, but it's probably better if the vice-principal never finds out about it or I probably won't be able to coach you anymore.”

“Of course!” Chikara's thoughts were a mess. He'd been prepared for a lot of things, but this went beyond all the scenarios he'd played out in his mind beforehand.

“Are you sure about wanting to come out to the team?” Takeda-sensei asked. “They might not react well.”

“Kinoshita and Narita know about me and Tanaka, Riku and Mori know about Hinata and Kageyama. That's half the team already and they are all fine with it,” Chikara explained. “I've thought this through, Sensei.”

 

The next step of Chikara's plan would be executed after dinner. This was their last night in Tokyo and he wanted to get this over with before they went back home. The talk with Coach and Sensei had gone over a lot better than expected, but Chikara was still nervous throughout the day. It was hard to truly focus on the practice matches when his mind was constantly drifting towards what would happen tonight.

Tanaka's presence and concern did not help.

Yachi was handing them their water bottles during a short break. Tanaka put an arm around Chikara's shoulder.

“Everything alright? You've been spacing out a lot,” he said and took a big gulp of water from his bottle.

Chikara sighed. Would this change once Tanaka knew the truth about him? Would he still be so casual about physical contact?

“We've been practising harder than usual for a week now. I'm just exhausted.” It wasn't a lie exactly, but Chikara still felt bad about having to fudge an excuse.

 

Before dinner Chikara had asked Yachi to make sure that the entire team would gather in the room they shared after everyone was done eating because he had an announcement to make. She looked puzzled, but didn't ask any questions.

“You have an announcement to make?” Narita asked as he stepped into the room, eyeing the captain suspiciously. “Don't tell me you're gonna...”

“You'll see. Please don't make this harder for me than it already is,” Chikara groaned, rubbing his forehead. His nerves were getting worse and he didn't even know why. So far, everyone he'd told had reacted well.

_Everything will work out fine_ , Chikara told himself over and over again as he waited for everyone to gather round. Hinata was sitting cross-legged on the floor, nervously biting his lips and Kageyama was leaning on the wall behind him, arms crossed and face pulled into one of his most magnificent frowns. 

The rest of the team came into the room in small groups, most of them talking animatedly and wondering what this gathering was about. When Tanaka spotted Kageyama and Hinata next to Chikara, his eyebrows shot up and he threw the captain a questioning look. Chikara smiled, or at least he tried to, but it probably came out as a grimace.

Maybe he shouldn't have eaten that second helping of curry, because currently he felt like puking. If this was how Hinata felt every time they had a match, Chikara could only pity him.

Riku and Mori were the last ones to enter. Chikara told them to shut the door before calling out for everyone's attention.

“So...” he said slowly as all eyes in the room were turned on him. “The three of us,” he gestured between himself, Kageyama and Hinata, “have something to tell you. Technically this should not affect the team at all, but as your team mates we don't want to keep it a secret from you either.” In the back of the room, Kinoshita and Narita were grinning at him encouragingly. “Well... erm... I'm gay.”

“Kageyama is my boyfriend,” Hinata blurted out, completely red in the face.

“Ha! I knew it!” Kinoshita said, a little too loudly, earning himself an elbow in the ribs from Narita. 

“At least those idiots won't reproduce,” Tsukishima said, frowning at Kageyama and Hinata.

“Tsukki...” Yamaguchi groaned.

“You got a problem with us?” Kageyama barked at the tall second year.

“As if. I may not like you, but I'm not a homophobe,” Tsukishima shot back, disdain ringing in every syllable.

“P-please d-don't fight!” Yachi stuttered out, trying to defuse the tension between the blocker and setter. 

Meanwhile Noya was jumping up and down in front of Hinata .

“Oh my god, Shōyō! You have a boyfriend! That's so cool!” he shouted excitedly. 

“I knooooow!” Hinata squealed.

The first years all watched the commotion with looks ranging from confusion to amusement. 

Chikara, however, only had eyes for one person. Tanaka leaned in the corner, staring at the floor. For the first time in years Chikara had no idea what he was thinking. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Chikara made his way across the room.

“Is everything alright?” he asked just loud enough to be heard over the noise the others were making.

“Why did you never tell me that you're gay?” Tanaka's voice was full of unspoken accusations, but he kept staring at his feet.

“Uh...” Chikara had no idea how to explain this to him without simultaneously confessing his feelings. 

“I thought we were friends!” Tanaka complained, hands balling into fists at his sides. “You didn't have to keep this from me. It's not like I'm an intolerant asshole.”

So he was angry. Chikara could deal with that. “It's not that simple. I didn't want this to spread around the school.”

“As if I'd do that! I know how to keep a secret,” Tanaka muttered and then finally looked up. “If you'd told me we could've done this together. We could've come out together.”

He wasn't making any sense. Nothing was making sense. Chikara wasn't even able to form a complete sentence anymore. “You... come out?”

“Well... I'm bi...” Tanaka mumbled.

_Holy shit. Holy fucking shit._

“But you always talk about how you want your girlfriend to wish you luck before games, you never said anything about guys.” Only after the words had left his mouth, did Chikara realise how dumb he was. Of course Tanaka wouldn't be talking about liking men. Chikara hadn't done it either for the same exact reason.

“Of course not! Are you stupid or something?” Tanaka was rolling his eyes at him. Chikara wanted to melt into the floor and disappear, this was too embarrassing. 

“Ah, sorry! I... wasn't thinking.” And then he realised something. “But aren't you being a hypocrite? You never told me anything about being bi either.”

Tanaka's eyes went wide and a faint blush coloured his cheeks. He looked as if he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing. He quickly turned his head to hide it, but Chikara had already seen it and his heart was beating like crazy. 

Laughing to hide his embarrassment, Tanaka scratched below his ear. “I guess that was a little hypocritical, but... uh... I... was scared, because I... I have a bit of a crush on y–”

At this point, Chikara couldn't take it anymore. Taking a leaf out of Kageyama's book, he grabbed Tanaka's collar and pulled him forward into a kiss. For a second Tanaka stiffened under the sudden attack, but when Chikara tried to pull away, Tanaka wouldn't let him. Instead, he wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him closer.

Somewhere in the background Chikara could hear their team mates' laughter and shouts of “Get a room!”, but he didn't even care. Tanaka's lips felt as nice as he'd always imagined and Chikara felt a comfortable warmth spread through his entire body. This was a dream come true. 

“Be my boyfriend?” he blurted out as they separated.

“Fuck yes!” Tanaka yelled, throwing his arms up into the air in celebration. “Noya, I have a boyfriend!”

“That's because you're awesome, Ryū!” Noya yelled back. 

As embarrassing as all of this was, Chikara couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up inside of him. He'd come out to his team and somehow managed to get the guy of his dreams in the process. No more pining. No more secrets. Everything was out in the open and everything was fine. Better than fine, actually.

A long week was coming to an end and Chikara was happier than ever before.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all your nice comments and the kudos! I didn't think that I'd be able to write this as quickly as I did, and that's all due to your encouragement :)


	4. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It only took me a total of 30min to write this, because I have been thinking about this scene whenever I spaced out over my Physical Chemistry notes >_

The Karasuno team was having one last breakfast with everyone else before they'd have to get on the bus to make their way back home. In the chaos of people still having to gather their stuff before leaving Chikara somehow ended up sitting next to Akaashi-san. He was actually kinda glad to get away from his energetic team mates for half an hour, because he knew that the ride home would be anything but relaxing.

“So...” Akaashi-san said between bites of toast. “You and Tanaka-san, huh?”

Chikara almost spit out his juice in surprise at Akaashi-san's words. He quickly swallowed and turned to look at the Fukorōdani captain.

“How did you–”

“Well, Tanaka-san said something about liking you when we were checking up on Hinata and you guys were pretty loud yesterday,” Akaashi-san explained, shrugging. “We were in the room next door, you know...”

Chikara was mortified. “Oh my god.” He buried his face in his hands.

Akaashi sighed. “At least he didn't confess in front of your parents.”

Chikara rubbed his face, resigned to having accidentally outed himself to his friends from Tokyo.

“Your girlfriend did that?” he asked, trying to make small talk to get rid of the lingering awkwardness.

“I wouldn't call Bokuto-san my girlfriend. But yes, he did.”

Oh. _Oh_. Holy shit, the count of queer people in Chikara's life was going up at a ridiculously fast pace.

“At least my parents already knew that I like guys. It was still really uncomfortable,” Akaashi-san said, wrinkling his nose at the memory.

Chikara sighed. He would have to get used to this now. As awkward as it was, he enjoyed not having to hide stuff like this from people. At least here amongst his friends nobody judged him. And he had dates with Tanaka to look forward to from now on. Looking up from his plate, his gaze met with Tanaka's. Chikara's boyfriend was sitting at another table next to Noya and Taketora. Immediately, Tanaka lifted his hands in front of his chest to form a heart shape with them.

_This is my life now_ , Chikara thought as he felt his entire face flush, unsure whether to find Tanaka's display of affection endearing or embarrassing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Chikara, you are not the only person who's got an embarrassing boyfriend :P
> 
> Thanks again for all your feedback! I hope you enjoyed this stupid little scene

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [tumblr](http://gilrael.tumblr.com), where I gush about my Haikyuu!! feels


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